It will come as no surprise to many that we no longer want our fairytales served up with a large side order of twee.
Gone are the days, for the most part, of movie makers bringing out fairytales movies, whether live action or cartoon, that don’t feature some kind of self-referential post-modern wink-and-a-nod, pop culture references, and most recently, a searing dose of gritty realism (think Snow White and the Huntsman).
Such is the case with Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters by director Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) which is due in cinemas in January 2013, promising to tell the much-loved tale in a way that Disney would never dream of doing.
Starring the man with the most hypnotically blue eyes since Daniel Craig, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is described by Moviefone news as “kind of like Ghostbusters, but with witches” and picks up the tale of the plucky brother and sister duo 15 years after their encounter with the witch and her deadly gingerbread house.
They scour the land searching for witches and when they find them, dispatched swiftly and without ceremony. Clearly their near-encounter with the cannibalistic witch left them more than a mite traumatised and they are clearly our for revenge.
The good news is that the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously. The terrible twosome are clad in leather for a start, have a high powered arsenal of weapons that would make an army weep with longing, and a brazen chutzpah to just get the grisly job done with little regard for the mess that results.
It’s hard to say where it will land on the grand scale of Hollywood quality but I am betting that with Tommy Wirkola involved and Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare that it’s bound to be a lot of fun if nothing else.
Fire up your ovens witches while you can!